nick
October 22nd, 2009, 05:38 AM
Meet the real-life Harry Potter who claims his life has been "made a misery" because he has the same name as JK Rowling's world-famous wizard.
Mr Potter, 20, endures taunts from the public, police, phone companies and even one football referee because of his name.
When he was born in 1989, his mother Tracey Shaw had no idea how famous the name would become.
After J K Rowling's first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone , was published his life changed forever.
Now he suffers daily problems with the reaction to his name and even had to show his girlfriend his passport so she believed him when they first met.
A bus company refused to issue him with a pass because they didn't believe he was telling them the truth when he tried to sign up.
Mr Potter, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, said: "At first I thought it might be quite a good thing to have the same name.
"But now it is like someone has cast a bad spell on me, the reactions I get from people range from making fun to plain aggressive.
"Sometimes I wish J K Rowling had never used my name.
"People seem to forget that I was Harry Potter before the character. I was nine when the books first came out.
"After 12 years of it I couldn't count the amount of times I've heard 'You're a wizard Harry'. It does wear a bit thin after a while."
Mr Potter, who works at Lloyds TSB, said many people think he's trying to be difficult when he tells them his name.
He said: "I was playing in my Sunday League team once and the referee accused me of giving him a false name, after I made a minor foul on another player.
"He asked me for my name to book me, but thought I was just playing up. He asked if I wanted to be sent off.
"You can get banned from the league for giving a fake name so it was quite worrying.
"I had to get my manager to come over and reassure the angry ref that I wasn't making up my name."
Source here (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/harry-potter/6402124/Real-life-Harry-Potter-taunted-about-his-name.html)
Mr Potter, 20, endures taunts from the public, police, phone companies and even one football referee because of his name.
When he was born in 1989, his mother Tracey Shaw had no idea how famous the name would become.
After J K Rowling's first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone , was published his life changed forever.
Now he suffers daily problems with the reaction to his name and even had to show his girlfriend his passport so she believed him when they first met.
A bus company refused to issue him with a pass because they didn't believe he was telling them the truth when he tried to sign up.
Mr Potter, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, said: "At first I thought it might be quite a good thing to have the same name.
"But now it is like someone has cast a bad spell on me, the reactions I get from people range from making fun to plain aggressive.
"Sometimes I wish J K Rowling had never used my name.
"People seem to forget that I was Harry Potter before the character. I was nine when the books first came out.
"After 12 years of it I couldn't count the amount of times I've heard 'You're a wizard Harry'. It does wear a bit thin after a while."
Mr Potter, who works at Lloyds TSB, said many people think he's trying to be difficult when he tells them his name.
He said: "I was playing in my Sunday League team once and the referee accused me of giving him a false name, after I made a minor foul on another player.
"He asked me for my name to book me, but thought I was just playing up. He asked if I wanted to be sent off.
"You can get banned from the league for giving a fake name so it was quite worrying.
"I had to get my manager to come over and reassure the angry ref that I wasn't making up my name."
Source here (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/harry-potter/6402124/Real-life-Harry-Potter-taunted-about-his-name.html)